TVSquad

In the wayback days of my entertainment journalism career (2004, to be precise), I had written a few poorly-executed but fun articles for a wonderful little site called Knot Magazine (not to be confused with The Knot, a website which I'm unfortunately all too familiar with these days). After publishing a couple of my missives, the editor had an idea for me: why not interview that spunky assistant Dave Letterman has on his show?

Sounded like a cool idea. It's not like Stephane Birkitt hadn't been interviewed before; she had spoken to a couple of papers from her alma mater and her hometown, and seemed approachable. And it would have been a fun story to try to figure out how she went from anonymous assistant to the girl who talked about her weekend on the phone to the on-stage presence Dave often called "Vicki." How hard could it be to get an interview?

Almost impossible, I found out.

Writing about this is just asking for trouble from the more politically extreme, but it's television news so I'm writing about it. President Barack Obama will be appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman this coming Monday, Sept. 21. He is the sole guest and will take up the full hour of the program.

It is the first time a sitting U.S. President will be appearing on Letterman's CBS show. Obama is likely trying to promote his new health care reform. Usually a television appearance like this one is reserved for those on the campaign trail for the office. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Why stop with Letterman? He could stay another hour on CBS and appear on Craig Ferguson. And why not appear on Leno's new show? Or Conan? Or Jimmy Fallon? Or even Jimmy Kimmel? However, the President is likely a busy man and doesn't want to spread himself too thin. Letterman will do for now.

The shame (one of many) about David Letterman's tired, ham-fisted grasp at humor this past week regarding the daughters of Sarah Palin is that it's become such a political hot potato. It's gotten to the point where, despite the fact that Dave apologized and Palin accepted, Palin's supporters still want to see the late-night host fired.

Danny Gallagher says a joke is a joke, but it's taken on more significance than that -- for better or worse.

Liberals point and say, "See! Conservatives can't take a joke. They're too bitter and uptight after losing the presidential election." Meanwhile, conservatives shout back that liberals are "out of touch with decency and only get offended when liberal women are attacked."

What both sides miss is that Letterman's clunky "knocked up" gag is a problem because it attacks a kid (be she 14 or 18, if you want to split hairs). While Sarah Palin is fair game and any comic or pundit can verbally knock around her "slutty flight attendant look" without fear of reprisal, it's an unwritten law that you don't go after the kids when doing political material.

The ratings for The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien have been slipping since he took over, which is to be expected. Possibly less expected is that while he's been dipping, Late Show With David Letterman has seen a slow increase. So much so that last night, David Letterman beat Conan O'Brien in the ratings. That should certainly help Letterman's negotiations for that contract extension to 2012. The real question is how will this ratings battle settle down?

Certainly there's no reason for the Tonight Show camp to panic yet. Letterman stomped Leno for awhile early in Leno's run, when Letterman first jumped to CBS. But Leno is a very different comedian and host than O'Brien. Perhaps too different? The concern isn't so much that O'Brien's numbers are dipping, because the curiosity factor was going to inflate his initial numbers anyway, it's that Letterman's are on the rise. That could be defectors from the Leno era making a move. But should O'Brien even want to bring them back, or should his battle be for new viewers that maybe weren't watching Letterman or Leno.

While NBC is carefully plotting Jay Leno's exit from The Tonight Show, David Letterman is talking about staying on the CBS Late Show beyond 2010. And since the subject of Leno came up, Dave thinks the guys at NBC are nuts to treat Jay the way they are, especially since he's done such a great job in the 11:30 slot. Letterman even said he wants Jay on his show the day after his Tonight Show tenure ends.

Letterman, who was once the heir apparent to Johnny Carson's desk but was passed over in favor of Leno, has thrived on CBS even though he was crushed to lose The Tonight Show. The supposed feud between Letterman and Leno, and their competition for The Tonight Show, was depicted in the HBO film (and Bill Carter book) The Late Shift. (If you've never seen it, buy or rent it; it's one of the best films ever about how TV works behind the scenes.)

Hold everything! Here's my favorite ad of the day so far.

It shows Late Show host David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey sitting on a couch watching the game (Oprah's show is based in Chicago and Letterman is from Indianapolis), eating potato chips. I believe Letterman had his arm around Oprah. Awwwwwwww.

You don't see Letterman in many commercials, acting with his goofy side. And seeing Oprah in the ad with him, after the whole Oprah/Uma thing from years ago and her guest appearance on his talk show last year in 2005...just brilliant. I'd like to say right now that whoever thought of this ad should get a big raise. If Letterman or Oprah thought of it, well, no raise for them because they already make enough money.

I think I'd watch a Letterman/Oprah sitcom where they play a married couple.